scholarly journals Focus on psychiatry in Italy

2002 ◽  
Vol 181 (6) ◽  
pp. 538-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Piccinelli ◽  
Pierluigi Politi ◽  
Francesco Barale
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Italian Experience ◽  
New Community ◽  
Training Programmes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Economic Considerations

Italy has experienced a significant change in its mental health sector, with a radical shift from old mental institutions to new community-based psychiatric services. The Italian experience attracted international attention and, in some instances, led to similar changes occurring abroad. Recently, economic considerations are imposing additional challenges on the health care system in general, with psychiatry facing distinct and peculiar problems due to its unique organisation and objectives. This paper aims:(a) to provide a historical overview of the changes in mental health provision in Italy over the past century;(b) to describe the present organisation of mental health services;(c) to show the impact of financing on the mental health sector;(d) to acknowledge the education and training programmes in mental health;(e) to outline research directions and activities.

Mental health social work reimagined

2019 ◽  
pp. 137-148
Author(s):  
Ian Cummins
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Mental Health Legislation ◽  
New Community ◽  
Health Legislation ◽  
The Impact

The final chapter summarises the key themes of the book. It outlines the narratives that have underpinned reforms of mental health legislation examining moves towards a rights-based approach. The chapter explores the impact of austerity policies on mental health services and services users. The chapter concludes with a call for new community based approaches and a rejection of risk and bureaucratic managerialism.

scholarly journals Confidentiality and security of clinical information in mental health practice

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy McClelland ◽  
Victoria Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Clinical Information ◽  
Health Care Organisation ◽  
Good Communication ◽  
The Impact

‘Security holds the key’ was the title of a newspaper article concerned with e-commerce (D. Sumner-Smith, The Sunday Times, 6 February, 2000, p. 3.13). However, it applies just as readily to the health sector. The need to safeguard the confidentiality of information that patients share with clinicians is as fundamental as the principle of consent. This issue has come to the fore in the context of the rapid developments and applications of information and communication technologies within society in general and within the health sector in particular. There are also changing societal expectations regarding access to information, confidentiality and disclosure. The emerging scenarios present significant challenges in relation to the traditional methods used to deal with the privacy and confidentiality of personal information (Anderson, 1995). In addition to the impact of new technologies, consideration also needs to be given to the impact of changes in health care organisation and practice, for example multidisciplinary and multi-agency working. Mental health services are in many respects at the vanguard of these changes, where the ideals of community care, shared care and seamless care depend fundamentally on good communication and information sharing. Failures in communicating information, particularly across sectoral boundaries, have led to significant problems in patient care, as revealed in several recent enquiries into homicides (Northamptonshire Health Authority & Northamptonshire Social Services, 1999)

scholarly journals Vital spaces and mental health

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-140
Author(s):  
Steven D Brown ◽  
Paula Reavey
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Diagnostic Categories ◽  
Material Conditions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Individual Body

The impact of social and material conditions on mental health is well established but lacking in a coherent approach. We offer the concept of ‘vitality’ as means of describing how environments facilitate ‘feelings of being alive’ that cut across existing diagnostic categories. Drawing on the work of Stern, Fuchs, Worms and Duff, we argue that vitality is not solely a quality of an individual body, but rather emerges from attunements and resonances between bodies and materials. We use vitality as a lens to explore how movements within and between assembled sets of relations can facilitate or disable feelings and expressions of being alive. Building on extended discussions of both inpatient and community-based mental healthcare, we sketch out a research agenda for analysing ‘vital spaces’.

Is the Far West Mental Health Integration Project Making a Difference? The General Practitioner Perspective

2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Perkins ◽  
David Lyle
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Care Providers ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Mental Health Integration ◽  
Integration Project ◽  
The Impact

This paper reports on the evaluation of an Australian Government and NSW State funded Mental Health Integration Project in remote far western NSW. The project was part of the Mental Health Integration Program, developed from the Second National Mental Health Plan. The project implemented a model of community-based mental health services and used innovative financing arrangements to allow the provision of community-based specialist mental health teams to remote communities and to recruit visiting psychiatrists to support the local primary care providers. The evaluation strategy included a survey of general practitioners (GPs) in the Upper Western Sector and Broken Hill, designed to investigate their level and type of contact with psychiatrists and community-based specialist mental health care teams, their perceptions about the impact of the new services, and their interest in further professional development in mental health care.The project has shown that visiting specialists can be deployed in a primary care setting with a focus on meeting the needs of local GPs, primary health care staff and their patients.

An Exploratory Pilot Study Into Undergraduate Physiotherapy Students' Perceptions Of Working With Patients With Mental Illness And Working Within The Mental Health Sector Of Health Care

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 10-10
Author(s):  
Samantha McIver ◽  
Jane Toms
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Physiotherapy Students

Background/Aims Mental illness is widespread throughout the United Kingdom with increasing prevalence. As mental illness affects such a large proportion of the population, it is likely that healthcare professionals, including qualified and student physiotherapists, will work with patients in all areas of healthcare, who have mental illness alongside co-morbidities. Physiotherapy students are placed into a wide range of placements throughout an undergraduate degree to develop skills and autonomy in rehabilitation. Understanding students' perspective appears relatively unexplored and was stimulated by personal experience of the first author where patients' rehabilitation could be impacted by mental illness. The impact varied depending on the severity of their illness, as well as the understanding of that illness by the multidisciplinary team involved in their care. The aim of this phenomenological study was to: explore physiotherapy students' lived experiences and perceptions of working with patients with mental illness, despite no mental health specific placement and understand their views of working in the mental health sector of healthcare Methods Ethical approval was obtained from Coventry University Ethics and a qualitative methodology was applied. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit six participants, who were all Undergraduate physiotherapy students at Coventry University, and data were collected via a focus group. The focus group explored their lived experiences, opinions and perceptions. Results A number of themes were discovered from the data, with associated sub-themes: ‘Lack of clarity’ with sub-themes: ‘Definitions, Terminology and understanding’, ‘Mental illnesses’ and ‘Physiotherapist role’ ‘Emotional Roller-Coaster’ with sub-themes: ‘Negative reactions’ and ‘Positive sentiments’ ‘Transferable skills’ with sub-themes: ‘Core competencies’ and ‘Core skills to elevate’ ‘Everyone has a story to tell’ with sub-themes: ‘Job’, ‘Placement’ and ‘Personal experience’ The themes influenced their ‘curious intrigue’, which related to their views of working in the mental health sector of health care. Conclusions All participants in the study had experiences to discuss and found it challenging to provide effective rehabilitation, appropriate to the patients' needs. Discussing these experiences evoked a complex range of perceptions and emotions.

Peer support in community settings: getting back to our roots

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Crepaz-Keay
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
Community Settings ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Benefit ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mental Health Foundation ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to look at peer support in the context of broader communities. Design/methodology/approach It builds on the author’s experience working with the Mental Health Foundation of developing delivering and evaluating several self-management and peer support initiatives in a variety of settings with a range of different peer groups. It will consider what constitutes a peer and a community, and explore the notion of community solutions for community problems. Findings Peer support in community settings has the capacity to address social isolation, build skills and self-esteem and give individuals a better quality of life – it can also add value to whole communities and reframe the way entire groups are considered within them. It has the ability to be both more accessible and less stigmatising and thus reach more people. This also offers community based peer support as a contributor to preventing the deterioration of mental health and potentially reducing the impact of mental ill-health. Social implications The author needs to think more in terms of whole community and get better at improving how the author measures and articulates this community benefit. This will allow us to make better decisions about how best to apply resources for long term whole community gain. Peer support and peer leadership needs to be at the heart of this process. Originality/value This paper places a familiar approach in a different setting placing peer support firmly outside services and within comunities.

scholarly journals Utilising a scholarship program as a workforce strategy for the community-managed mental health sector

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 360-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Foreman ◽  
Sara McMillan ◽  
Amanda Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Workforce Development ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Mental Health Program ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
University Experiences ◽  
Scholarship Program ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The community-managed mental health sector needs to meet growing workforce demands. Yet, limited research has explored professional development opportunities and effective recruitment and retention strategies to support sector growth. One strategy is the use of a scholarship program to increase skills and training, via a University qualification. The purpose of this paper is to explore the progress of 19 mental health scholarship students and the impact of the scholarship on career intentions. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods approach comprising scholarship applications, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews was used to explore the students’ university experiences between February 2013 and January 2015. Course convenors of the Mental Health Program were interviewed. Data were collected across three time-points over 24 months, with each collection informing the next research phase. Data analysis involved thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. Findings Deeper knowledge, recognition of experience, new career pathways and improved work practice were benefits. Managing time and study, and work-life balance were the greatest challenges. Completing students displayed a range of internal attributes and accessed external supports. At the time of the study, the scholarships maintained student motivation and intention to work in the sector. Originality/value This research provides a deeper understanding of the demographics of the sector’s workforce. Insight into the attributes of completing students was obtained. The benefits realized and the challenges faced by the scholarship recipients will inform ongoing workforce development programs for the community-managed mental health sector.

scholarly journals COVID-19 lockdown and its impact on mental health in various population groups in Greece: A cross-sectional study

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Argyropoulos ◽  
Konstantinos Krikonis ◽  
Eleni Jelastopulu
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
On Line ◽  
Socioeconomic Data ◽  
The Impact

Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown has brought a serious impact on physical and mental health.Objective: The purpose of the present study was to estimate the impact of the first lockdown in Greece, on both quality of life and anxiety levels in different occupational groups.Methods: A cross-sectional on- line survey was conducted from 20th of April to 4th of May 2020. A 24-item anonymous questionnaire was administered to collect basic demographic and socioeconomic data. The 5-item WHO Well-Being Index (WHO-5, 0-100%, cut-off 52%) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) tools were used to assess well-being and anxiety, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS for Windows v.24.0 Statistical Package.Results: A total of 575 participated in the study, 62.8% females, 48.5% aged between 40 to 59 years. 32.5% were employed in education sector, 32.5% in health sector and 20.3% as season workers in tourism sector. Males showed slightly higher levels of wellbeing (52.1 vs. 47.3, p=0.023) and lower levels of anxiety (7.1 vs. 8.2, p=0.023) compared to females. Factors associated with higher wellbeing and lower anxiety were higher education and income level, optimism, taking less protection measures, and being seasonal worker. Furthermore, participants with comorbidities and symptoms like headache, musculoskeletal pain, as well as feeling depressed or stressed revealed lower wellbeing and higher anxiety scores.Conclusion: Our study revealed an overall poor wellbeing and mild to moderate levels of anxiety during the lockdown. Actions should be taken to address and to prevent its serious impact on mental health.

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